my squirrel cannot move her front legs!

[crystaljem19]

Hello,
I am new to these forum boards so please go easy on me. :)
I have a 3yr red fox squirrel that we have raised since she was 2 weeks old, the night before last she was perfectly fine, eating running playing , everything was normal. Then the next day she was wobblely and couldn't really stand. By lunch time she was not able to or wanted to stand at all. We looked up everything we could on what could be wrong. Here are her symptoms : very lathargic, can move back legs but not front legs very well, cannot walk (she will scoot her body by pushing with her back legs and grabbing with front legs to move),she cannot eat or drink by herself, she mostly acts like she is paralyzed but scoots around sometimes. We are giving her liquids with a syringe and some food that we can blend up and feed with the syringe. Her diet is very good, we feed her the blocks from henrys healthy pets, fresh veggies, fruit on occasion along with some pecans rarely. We also supplement her with calcium daily, vitamin d , and b12. We took her to the vetop today and he tested her blood sugar which was normal. She weighs 1lbs 2Oz. We gave her calcium as soon as this happened thinking it was MBD. Now we are not sure because nothing is working! Does anyone have any suggestion that would be helpful to our Zipper. We love her dearly and will do anything to get her back to her normal happy self! Thank you in advance!

[Shewhosweptforest]

Wow, sounds like you've done everything right...diet pops in the head immediately....but sounds like you have that covered....and she does eat her blocks....sometimes they hide them...but you would know this. Could she have fallen and hurt herself...or slipped a disc:dono I'm just grasping...the vet did not X-ray to see if their was any damage? I would keep her in a small container...with heat...a rice buddy would be better so you could manipulate her head off the heat....in case there's something going on in her head :( I can't stand it when we take them to the vet and get no answers :tap Hang tight ...some of are more experienced members will be on soon....and I would still push the calcium ..just in case...it won't hurt...oh and stop the vitamin D ...there can be issues with that...so I'd stop till someone addresses it :Love_Icon


Oh and :Welcome Praying for Zipper :Love_Icon

[stepnstone]

Hello,
I am new to these forum boards so please go easy on me. :)
I have a 3yr red fox squirrel that we have raised since she was 2 weeks old, the night before last she was perfectly fine, eating running playing , everything was normal. Then the next day she was wobblely and couldn't really stand. By lunch time she was not able to or wanted to stand at all. We looked up everything we could on what could be wrong. Here are her symptoms : very lathargic, can move back legs but not front legs very well, cannot walk (she will scoot her body by pushing with her back legs and grabbing with front legs to move),she cannot eat or drink by herself, she mostly acts like she is paralyzed but scoots around sometimes. We are giving her liquids with a syringe and some food that we can blend up and feed with the syringe. Her diet is very good, we feed her the blocks from henrys healthy pets, fresh veggies, fruit on occasion along with some pecans rarely. We also supplement her with calcium daily, vitamin d , and b12. We took her to the vetop today and he tested her blood sugar which was normal. She weighs 1lbs 2Oz. We gave her calcium as soon as this happened thinking it was MBD. Now we are not sure because nothing is working! Does anyone have any suggestion that would be helpful to our Zipper. We love her dearly and will do anything to get her back to her normal happy self! Thank you in advance!
The first thing one would think is mbd but if the diet is all that's said it is I seriously doubt mbd.
Not knowing if she's taken a fall, the thing I have to question is why the daily vitamin supplementation?
If you are feeding the squirrel a balanced diet of required rodent block and healthy vegetables and fruits
it is not required or recommended.
An over or under abundance of vitamins or minerals over a long period of time is generally very harmful
to the squirrel and particularly with a fat soluble vitamin such as D.
I can not say this is the what's caught up to her or that this is the cause. However, it is something you
might have to consider.
Hopefully someone more versed in cause and effect with over supplementation will have more answers.

[Shewhosweptforest]

How's Zipper? Any improvement? :Love_Icon

[Liza]

I would immediately stop the vitamin D.. I know I've read here on the Squirrel board that Vit D is used as rodent poison in high doses.. (can't remember who said it, but it was someone trustworthy..) If she is eating Henry's blocks, she is getting all the vitamins she needs.. The extra that you are giving could be having the opposite effect than what you want (making her sick rather than healthy).. Not sure how you would eliminate the extra from her body since it is fat soluble, but I would definitely hold off on giving any more until someone with more knowledge about supplements weighs in here... and I"m not sure you should supplement b12 in healthy animals at all.. May i ask who told you to supplement those things, and how did they determine dosage, etc?

[HRT4SQRLS]

You are correct Liza. Vitamin D is used as a rodenticide. I would never supplement with Vitamin D. 15 minutes of sunshine provides all the Vitamin D they need if you want to try that.

They should never be in direct sun as they can over heat.

[crystaljem19]

I am so sorry I haven't been able to get back on here in a few days. I did stop all of the supplements except for the calcium until I get the milk in for her, then I will stop that as well. I only gave her the extra vitamins when I was waiting on the blocks to arrive when I ran out. I am sorry I did not clarify that. Zipper is somewhat a tad better. She is trying to move front legs to clean her face! So thats a positive thing. 😊The vet called me back after he talked to a friend of his that has some knowledge about squirrels. They gave me anitbotoics and a oral steroid to give her. He also ordered a special milk for her from oxbow that will give her all the nutrients she needs since she can not feed herself. We are staying positive and doing anything we can to make her comfortable right now. I am hoping that this will help her , it is so hard to watch her just lay there all day. I take her to work with me in a crate so I can keep an eye on her, keep her hydrated and feed her. I just wish I knew what caused this to happen.....

[Shewhosweptforest]

:Love_Icon Glad there's been some improvement....and that you have a game plan :thumbsup Still praying for you both :bowdown :Love_Icon